Clive Palmer (Fairfax, Palmer United Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. As the world knows, the average debt in the OECD—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fairfax will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition has a point of order?

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business just wants this Prime Minister to act like a Prime Minister.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. That is an abuse of the standing orders and the Leader of the Opposition knows it.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will resume his seat and we will have the member for Fairfax ask his question.

Clive Palmer (Fairfax, Palmer United Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. As the world knows, the average debt in the OECD for advanced economies is 73 per cent of GDP. According to the OECD and the Parliamentary Library, Australia's debt is 12.1 per cent of GDP. How can the government justify the repressive measures it has introduced in the budget, including the co-payment for doctor visits, which pensioners, young people and single mothers cannot afford to pay, and the abandonment of young people under 30 years of age? Why doesn't the Australian government tell the people the truth?

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my left!

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Professor Palmer for his question. I do on the note that, as he would know—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, just listen. As he would know, Australia is a net importer of capital. As Professor Palmer would know, we have essentially been a net importer of capital since 1788 because we have a very large country that relies on a lot of foreign investment—

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You know he is the crossbench?

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Corio will desist!

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

such as from China from CIDIC. We rely on foreign investment to develop the mines. We rely on foreign loans in order to build and construct our activity. Every year we import around $40 billion in net terms from the rest of the world to fund our growth.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker—

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, no. This is an education for you as well, so just listen.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer will resume his seat. The member for McMahon on a point of order.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I note that ministers can refer questions to other ministers. If the Treasurer has not been briefed, I understand that the Minister for Communications has been.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. Resume your seat. The next person who abuses the standing orders in that way will remove themselves under standing order 94(a). I call the Treasurer.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So as a nation on an annual basis Australia does not fund itself like other nations, like Japan, which has an enormous pool of domestic savings, the UK or even Italy, which have much higher government debt—yes, they do—but have a very large pool of domestic savings that funds the needs of the government. Whereas in Australia we do not fund ourselves on an annual basis, so when we borrow money, be it from our banks, or when the federal government runs deficits and it borrows money from the rest of the world to help to fund its everyday living costs, then that increases our exposure to international capital market volatility and it increases the exposure of Australia to movements around the rest of the world that some other countries do not have to do.

So our lower level of debt does not necessarily excuse us at all from some of the challenges in global financial markets because we import money to build the mines, to build the ports and to build the railways, because we import money every year. The reason we want to get back to surplus is so we can start lending money to Australians instead of borrowing money from people overseas to fund our needs. We want to become a self-sufficient nation. We want to ensure that we fund our demands. We want to ensure that we live within our means. We want to make sure that as a nation we can stand proudly and independently on our own two feet, that we are not relying on anyone in the international market to fund our needs and fund our future. The coalition government stand for the independence and the resilience of Australia, and we will not apologise for that.